We had an interesting development last night at our house. A bout of thunderstorms passed through the area where we live about 2:00 a.m. or so. I know this 'cause I was awakened at one point by the loud crashes as Mother Nature doled out rain (although in torrents) to thirsty grass, flowers and trees. In just a few minutes later I soon dozed off again dreaming of how we could spend the money we'd now save on not having to water our vegetation.

However, I was soon awakened by an unceremoniously loud "woof!" Lily, our loving Sheltie, formerly of choking fame (see Dog Biscuit Incident for details), was standing by the side of our bed and...

...looking at me, apparently needing to go out. It was still raining and by this time it seemed like Ol' Mother Nature was beating on a mountain of giant, empty garbage cans up in the sky. Even so, I put on clothes (albeit reluctantly) so I could take Lily out to do her business. But when I went to the back door and called to the dog to accompany me, she merely stood in the bedroom doorway looking at me. After another unsuccessful attempt at getting her to accompany me outside, I realized that she didn't have to go out. What she wanted was to get into bed with us and be assured that the loud crashes of thunder were not going to harm her.

So I picked her up & put her in our bed, thinking all would now be O.K. But, my bride who was now awake looked down at our other two Shelties & saw that they, too, wanted to be picked up and be comforted in our bed! Of course, we complied, petting them until they were calmed down enough to fall asleep.

Now that the morning has arrived we now realize we might have to get a bigger bed 'cause the two of us, three Shelties AND our Collie Douglas (who whimpered once or twice but otherwise didn't seem too upset by the evening's events) can't all fit in the one we have at one time!